Mysteries of the Heart
by hiddentrouble94
Summary: Renee gets remarried and Charlie is dead so Bella decides to go to boarding school in Forkes where she meets the Cullens. She becomes friends with Alice and falls in love with someone unexpected. AH
1. Mysteries of the Heart

**Mysteries of the Heart**

**Sorry to those following my first story The Wrong Cullen I will hopefully update that very soon I've been suffering writers block and this story came to my head and begged to be written. So enjoy and reviews would be lovely.**

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and the characters but the plot and maybe some additional characters are my own. That said let the story begin.**

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The young girl looked beautiful as she walked down the aisle, white dress flowing, tiny flowers sprinkled through her hair and bouquet in hand. Her smile couldn't be contained, she giggled as they exchanged vows and joyously threw herself into her husband's arms as soon as the celebrant even had time to finish saying, "you may kiss the bride".

_The bride was Bella as little girl, the groom – her favourite teddy and the priest her best friend at the given time. This scene was one of many, it was her dream as a child to find the perfect man and have a beautiful wedding._

_Bella's found her true love but is that what's stopping her dream being realised?_

**Bella**

Great I'm the new girl, that's not uncommon in year 11 but I'm the new girl coming halfway through the school year. Everyone's going to have their set groups and the new kids aren't going to be so 'new' anymore and I'll be centre of attention, exactly what I've always wanted. Yes I have been told that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit but does it really look like I care? And the worst thing is I'm a boarder now so I'm surrounded by girls 24/7 plus the guys at school.

Don't get me wrong, I don't resent my mum or her new husband Phil for this; it was my choice to come here. Here is Forkes Senior College, the school's co-ed but boarding is in two separate sections. My mum was a day girl here and that's how she met my Dad. They got married straight out of school and he became the chief of police here, after a while mum couldn't take it anymore and they split up. He died when I was 3 during an armed robbery he was called to. We've lived in Phoenix ever since but my mum recently got remarried and Phil, her new husband, is a minor league baseball player so he travels a lot. She used to miss him badly when she had to stay in home with me while he was away so I offered to come here so that she could be with him, it's easier this way.

I haven't met very many people yet but I've really only been here long enough to set up my room and have a look around. My house mother, Esme, picked me up from the airport. She seems really nice and motherly and it's as if she actually cares about the girls which I wasn't really expecting. Esme introduced me to a girl in my year and told her to look after me. Alice Cullen has been here since year 8 (the first year you can board here) so I guess she knows her way around pretty well. She's so bright and bubbly, her enthusiasm is catching and you find yourself smiling constantly in her presence. She seems like a really sweet person. She also amazingly pretty in a strange way. Short and petite with short spiked hair that goes in all directions framing a delicate face which is almost pixie like. She wore brown knee-high boots which had to be designer, black tights and a flowing light brown top.

As she showed me around boarding she pointed out some of the girls in our dorm, not that I'll remember any of their names. Except for the two that she warned me to avoid, Jessica and Lauren and Rosalie Hale, I don't think anyone who's seen her could ever forget her. She was that kind of perfect beauty you expect to see in Vogue or Victoria's Secret or even in Picture for that matter. She was as unusually pale as Alice and breathtakingly beautiful but that's where the similarities ended. Taller and curvier; her figure the kind that makes every girl in the room take a hit on her self-esteem. Her hair was golden, waving to the middle of her back. Alice introduced us but she barely acknowledged me except to scowl as she walked off quickly after hugging her.

Alice and Esme also told me about Angela, my roommate, saying that she is a lovely girl and that we will get along well. I hope they're right, they seem to be good judges of character, just as long as she isn't one of those girls who feels the need to talk for the sake of talking and respects my privacy I'm sure we'll be fine. There are two to a room, each room containing: two beds, two desks, two wardrobes and two pin-up boards. The rooms are pretty small but we have an amazing view of the nearby woods from our window and there's decent heating thank god, I just hope Angela feels the cold as much as I do.

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**So sorry if the first chapter's not all that great, it will hopefully get better and sorry if there are errors I don't have a beta.**


	2. School and Smirks

**School and Smirks**

**I hope you're all enjoying it so far, please review and give me any feedback you have. It would be greatly appreciated. Ta. Now read away.**

I didn't want to be at school too early, but I also didn't want to be late to my first class and have to face the minute in front of the class introducing myself to the teacher and finding a seat. I donned my blazer and headed down the path to school, feeling like a dork in my new uniform: white blouse, dark blue pleated skirt, light blue jumper, black tights, black shoes and dark blue blazer. At least I didn't have to decide what to wear today. The misty wet swirled around my head and the ground sloshed under my feet, I could not wait to get to school and out of this miserable weather.

I found the little building that said Front Office and went inside where it was surprisingly warm. The office was a small room with a little waiting room scattered with pot plants and a counter cutting the room in half. Behind the counter sat three women, I went up to the first one; a red haired woman wearing a purple t-shirt, how could she not be cold? She looked up at me, "Can I help you?"

"I'm Isabella Swan, I just transferred here from Phoenix", I informed her and she began shuffling through papers in one of the many trays scattered along the counter.

"Here you go Honey, here's your schedule and a map of the school", she smiled at me then went back to work as she wished me a good day. Yeah right this is me, I'll probably end up tripping in mud or being made to stand in front of my classes and introduce myself – my worst nightmare.

My first class was in building 3 so I studied the map trying to locate it then wrapped my blazer tighter around me and started to find my classroom. I had just got past the cafeteria when I ran into a gangly boy with pimples and oily black hair. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry I didn't see you, are you ok?"

"Oh yeah, it's ok I'm fine. Hey you're the new girl Isabella aren't you?"

"Bella, yeah", he pulled out his camera and took a shot of me.

"You're news baby"

"Umm no, no I'm not please", I grimaced, "I'd rather just sneak in without being noticed"

"Ok, no feature then", I thanked him and kept walking as fast as I could without completely stacking it. I made it to room three minutes before the bell and got seated in an empty desk down the back thankfully, although somehow my classmates still managed to gawk at me for the whole lesson. I made it through English mostly uneventfully and found Government in building 6 relatively easily, it seemed my day was looking up. Next up was my least favourite subject, trigonometry, with the only teacher who made me stand in front of the class; it was horrible, I stuttered, blushed bright red and tripped over on my way to my desk. I'd spoken too soon.

After Spanish I walked to lunch trying to find someone I knew, spotting Angela I walked over to sit at her table. Angela was really sweet, I met her last night when she finally got back to boarding and hadn't heard her say a mean thing about anyone yet. Her brown hair framed a kind face and I really think we were going to get on well. I sat next to Jessica who seemed to have befriended me in Spanish and Trig and I could see why Alice told me to stay away, her favourite word was like and she used it as much as possible and I'm pretty sure her favourite past time was gossiping. I recognised Eric, a blonde guy who had introduced himself but I forgot his name straight after and Lauren also on the table, maybe sitting with Angela's not going to be such a good idea; but they all seem nice enough.

Just as I was sitting down Alice looked up and smiled at me then waved for me to come over, I signalled that I'd be there in a minute.

"Did Alice Cullen just ask you to sit with them?" Jessica stared at me looking completely dumbfounded. I looked over to her table and noticed for the first time how beautiful every single one of them was. As well as the fact that they were completely separated from all the other students in the cafeteria, as if they were outcasts which is strange considering how nice Alice is and with their looks you would expect them to be the most popular kids.

"Yeah why? Is there something wrong with them?" I was curious about them.

"That is Alice, Edward and Emmet Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale; they all live together with Dr. Carlisle Cullen and his wife, Esme, and board here." She started explaining quietly. Alice told me she had two brothers so I figured that the one next to her was probably Jasper, her boyfriend, and the other two were Edward and Emmet. I had to admit Alice had good taste, but then they were all amazingly good looking, especially Rosalie. Wait a minute, what? Why would I think that? I know I'm just appreciating her looks and comparing them to myself as girls are prone to do...

"They're very nice looking" I understated.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed with another giggle. "Don't waste your time with Edward or Emmet though, they don't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." She sniffed and I wondered which one had turned her down, maybe both.

"Well I better go see Alice, see you"

"Bella! Finally, I thought you were never going to get here", Alice said jumping up to give me a hug as when I got to their table, taking me by surprise.

"Umm yeah, sorry", I apologised, "I was getting the low down on the occupants of this table."

"Oh yeah, trust Jessica, see what I mean?" Alice laughed, "So what did she tell you?"

"Yeah I do", smirking," Well you guys actually live in Forkes with Esme and her husband Carlisle and that you and Jasper are together, oh and not to try with Emmet or Edward because no-one here's hot enough for them". Emmet and Edward chuckled at that and proceeded to tease each other.

"So pretty much nothing you didn't know except we live here, anyway you have to meet everybody! I told them all about you". I blushed involuntary, Alice really was a handful but she was so full of life, it was catching.

Alice introduced me to Edward first; he nodded at me and smiled. He had bronze hair and green eyes which were quite intensely beautiful and although he wasn't 'buff' you could see that he was all muscle under his shirt. Next was Emmet who looked like a boxer or something, his muscles were well built and you could see he took pride in them. He gave off a friendly vibe though, like a cuddly bear and reminded me of a little kid at times, pouting at Edward for calling him a douche. The way Alice and Jasper looked at each other it was obvious that they were very in love, the sort of couple who could probably finish each other's sentences but gave the other the space they needed, or rather Alice needed.

"Bella meet Jasper, beware of him he's the scary one", she said poking her tongue at him then leant down to give him a quick kiss, "But I love him anyway".

"And last but not least is Rose, but you've already seen her", Rosalie looked up and gave me a small smile making me blush a darker shade of crimson. She somehow seemed to sense that she had caused this godforsaken reaction somehow and smirked, still staring at me intensely making me blush even redder if that was even possible. I tried to look away but something about her made me keep staring back.

"Bella, hellooo anyone hoommee? Earth to Bella!" Alice called, breaking me out of my daze.

"Oh, umm sorry, I guess I zoned out for a second", I admitted embarrassed. She smirked at me again, what is it with her and smirking and why does it have an effect on me?

"Silly Bella, come on, what class do you have now?" Alice laughed at me. I looked at my timetable and informed her that I had human biology then gym and she informed me that I would be with Edward next and made him walk me to class. It was weird how Alice had taken me under her wing when it seemed they didn't normally let outsiders into their little posse, but then Esme did tell her to look after me maybe she was just making sure she did a thorough job for her foster mum.

Walking to class with Edward was actually pleasant, better than the other guys anyway. He didn't really push me to talk to start with but I could see he was curious.

"I guess you'll be sitting with me in Bio, it's the only spare seat"

"Oh cool, Alice will be happy; you get to help her keep Esme happy by looking after me for a period". Mentally reprimanding myself for saying what I was thinking out loud, but Edward just looked at me.

"Do you really think that's the only reason Ali's hanging out with you?"

"Well yeah kind of, why else would she introduce me to your little group which obviously doesn't have much to do with anyone outside your little family? It's ok you know I don't expect to be popular or anything like that and I think it's really sweet that Alice is doing this for Esme"

Edward looked almost angry, "You have a lot to learn, Alice is doing this on her own accord. She doesn't introduce random people to us and we're not the ones doing the excluding." I suddenly felt extremely ashamed of what I had said, what if Edward was right and Alice really did want to be my friend? Had I just blown being friends with her brother and possibly Rosalie?

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

Edward seemed to forgive me and we had a fairly good lesson together. His next class was in the opposite direction to mine and he left before I had even finished putting my pen away, saying he'd see me around as he walked out. The blonde guy from lunch came over to me and asked what I had next and it turned out he had gym too. Halfway to class I finally remembered his name Mike, common enough. He was a nice boy but not really my type and if I remember correctly this was the guy Angela had given me the heads up about because Jessica liked him. I finally got rid of him when we got to the change rooms and had to go our separate ways. Great basketball...not.

I walked out of Gym to find Alice waiting for me; apparently she wanted to make sure I had someone to walk home with.

"You know Alice, you don't have to do this", I said shyly, slightly grateful that she was even if it wasn't on her own accord.

"But I want to; look I'm not doing this because of Esme. Edward told me what you said and it hurt that you can think that. Bella I want to be your friend."Alice looked frustrated, what she was saying surprised me. For years now I've been the outcast, no-one wanted to be my friend not truly, "We all do, even Rosalie, especially her." Rosalie wants to be my friend? For some reason this made my heart beat just a little faster and happiness spread throughout me.

"Oh", I smiled warmly at her.

"Now let's get back to boarding before you freeze", she grabbed my hand and practically started skipping along. She asked me fifty million questions about how my day was, whether people had been nice, which teachers had made me stand in front of the class; every little detail. It felt good having someone care and I couldn't help thinking about what she'd said about Rosalie. I just couldn't figure out why I cared so much.

We got back to boarding and went to our rooms and I promised to come see her later, I just had to change and email my mother, undoubtedly there would be an email waiting for me requesting the details about every little thing. Sometimes I had wondered who the adult was in our relationship, she had a tendency to worry unnecessarily yet be more forgetful than anyone I know. I walked into my room to see that Angela had already been back and got changed and gone somewhere, probably to hang out with Jessica and Lauren. I threw on a pair of jeans and a green sweater and plugged my laptop into the internet. As predicted mum had emailed, I quickly replied so I could go see Alice's room, curious as to what it would look like.

I walked along the hallway looking for her room regretting not having asked her earlier, I finally found her name plate and my heart skipped a beat when I saw who her roommate was, Rosalie. It shouldn't have been a shock to me; it was obvious for them to be roommates being close friends and not really having anyone else. I heard playful giggling and thumping; I knocked and heard Alice call for me to come in.

I timidly walked in to find Rosalie on top of Alice with a pillow raised over her head, explaining the thumping I had heard. Rosalie looked up and smiled, I felt the heat creep to my cheeks as I smiled back, noticing she smirked again and then told me to come contain my friend. I grabbed another pillow from Alice's bed and, giggling, threw it at Rosalie and then walked over to help Alice up. I had just stretched out my hand when the next thing I know I'm on the ground with Rosalie straddling me holding a pillow. I caught my breath and ignored the heat travelling to the lower part of my body. Alice dived at Rosalie and we all ended up tangled in a heap laughing.

When we finally calmed down enough to talk I asked why Rosalie was attacking Alice anyway.

"Because I called her a brat and threw my teddy at her", Alice laughed. I just giggled, I could tell I was going to have fun with these guys over the next year or two. She was wearing black stockings and boots again but this time with a tartan mini and a black corset top over a long-sleeved red top. Rosalie looked amazing as usual, I wondered if it was possible for either of them to ever look less than stunning**. **Her top had a low v and I found myself staring at her chest, feeling more heat travelling down, I realised where I was staring and blushed with embarrassment.

I looked up to see Alice giving me a slightly quizzical look before smiling again and asking me how I liked their room, which I had to say looked pretty cool for such a small room. Their pin-up boards were full of pictures of photos of them and the rest of their families, they had a small bookshelf crammed with books and a large range of CDs. Alice's bed had a dark blue spread with swirling shades of blue and black while Rosalie's was black with hot pink patterns near the bottom. There walls were decorated with different shaped silver stars and they'd put blue material across the window giving the room a faint blue tinge. On the floor we were lying on a dark blue rug, it was obvious they'd had experience the whole room actually had a homey vibe to it.

Alice and I sat around talking about nothing in particular while Rosalie sat on her bed, leaning against the wall, reading. We put on some music in the background and it was actually really peaceful. I couldn't help stealing glances at Rosalie every now and then, she caught me once and we held eye contact for a couple of seconds until it sent a shiver through me, I looked away blushing but I could sense that she was smirking at me once again. This girl was getting to me but why? I mean I like boys...Don't I?


	3. Realisations

**Thank you so much to lilbbygrl for her review last chapter, it made me smile and want to update faster so here's chapter 3.**

**I hope you guys are enjoying it and please review :)**

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**Realisations**

**Bella**

"So, what do you guys do most weekends?" Last weekend they'd gone home but I knew they weren't this weekend so I hopefully I could hang out with them a little.

"It varies sometimes we go home others we stay in or go shopping ", Rose answered me.

"This weekend we're having a movie marathon tomorrow night and then Saturday we're hitting the shops!" Alice butted in, how this girl could be so enthusiastic was beyond me, but then she was always enthusiastic, "doesn't that sound like fun Bella! And guess what!"

"Umm I don't know what Ali"

"You're coming with us!" Wow that wasn't expected, but wait don't I need permission or something and the last time I'd talked to mum was on Sunday, four days ago.

"What about permission or whatever?"

"Oh that's all sorted out; Esme talked to your mum and is allowed to sign your permission for you whenever. So now you can come with us anywhere without hassle!" I was touched that Alice and Esme had gone to so much trouble for me. I had only been here a week and Alice, and even Rosalie, had proved to be very sweet, thoughtful people, perhaps the next couple of years won't be so bad after all. We decided on movies to watch Friday so that they could get Esme to rent them out for us, she was going to be on this weekend. Our other housemum was Georgina Dent, a slightly elderly lady, her kids all grown up and parents themselves. She was sweet in her own way and pleasant enough she leaves us mostly to ourselves and inquires about our day when we get back from school.

I still blushed every time she looked at me and I still had no idea why, she was intimidating yes but not to that extent after you start getting to know her, even if I'm still not sure she likes me although Ali says she does. Rosalie wrote down the titles to give to Esme, I passed her the pen and our hands grazed each other sending a tingle up my hand and arm almost burning. We finished deciding after a good ten minutes of debate, Rosalie mocking most of my film choices yet when it came to deciding she backed me up against Alice's most of the time. After Alice sent me off to do my homework so that I didn't have much over the weekend to 'optimise' our shopping time, I almost rolled my eyes at her.

I got back to my room and was about to open the door when I heard Jessica talking, "I'm telling you Angey there's just something weird about her, I mean she hangs out with the Cullen's", I could hear the sneer in her voice."Anyone who can even be around that little bitch, Rosalie, has got to have their heads checked." I tensed but I waited to listen to whatever Angela had to say.

"Yeah I totally agree, she's like strange and she like doesn't talk to us", Lauren piped in; I'd learnt that anything Jessica says she agrees with.

"Guys, leave her alone so what she hangs out with the Cullen's? They're nice people if you give them a chance" I was surprised that Angela was standing up for them," As for Bella, she's probably got more sense than to hang out with people who are going to talk about her behind her back." Wow that was even more unexpected but it touched me that she would do that for me, she had known them for years and me a week. I chose then to walk in, just as Jess was about to protest and her jaw dropped then snapped shut. Angela glanced questioningly and I smiled back with a slight nod to show her that I had indeed heard what was just said.

"Hi Bella, well umm I umm have to go do some umm maths I'll see you guys later, come on Lauren"

They left giving me fake smiles but trying to get out as fast as possible. Angela apologised about what they said but I thanked her for sticking up for me and my friends, it took guts and I was glad to have an ally in my roommate. We both went to our desks and started on our study; I put my iPod in, classical music filling my head. My homework didn't take long to finish so I pulled out my copy of Wuthering Heights and started reading it for about the millionth time, it would never fail me.

School the next day went agonisingly slow, the teachers rambling about nothing important and the feel of Jessica and Laurens gazes on me. At lunch I didn't even bother sitting with their table at all, I waved to Angela and went straight to sit with the Cullen's although Alice wasn't there yet, Rosalie looked up as I sat down and commented that it was about time. As usual my head speed slightly and I looked away as fast as possible, I really wanted Rosalie to like me but I was a total klutz around her. I had never been like this around a girl before, it just didn't add up. Unless...no I couldn't possibly...Rosalie's a girl, albeit an extremely hot one but I don't think of girls like that. It's not like I've ever had a boyfriend before but...there has to be another explanation.

"Bella are you ok?" I jumped in surprise as Alice spoke. I hadn't heard her sit down; I had been so lost in my own confusing thoughts.

"Umm, yeah fine just a little tired."

"Ok", but she didn't look very convinced. I tried to pay attention to the conversation going on around me but I repeatedly fell back into day dreaming, trying to sort out my thoughts. I noticed Alice give me a few worried looks and I had a feeling she might push it later, maybe that would help, talking it over with someone - but it's her sister, adoptive sister anyway. Awkward.

Lunch was over and Edward and I walked off together to Human Bio, the next two periods flying by. Except when I managed to trip over nothing and fall flat on my face during basketball that is, only I could be so clumsy. I walked out of PE with my head in the clouds as it had been all afternoon and almost freaked when Alice came up behind me and jumped on my back.

"Bella! You walked straight past me!"

Oh shit Alice, I was so caught up that I forgot she would be waiting for me. I apologised as I lowered her gently to the ground and from the look on her face I could tell I was about to get the grand inquisition.

"What's going on? You're really out of it today and you're not tired so please don't lie to me".

I sighed, what the hell am I meant to say to her?

"Ali...I'm just really confused at the moment"

"About what sweetie?" Wrapping her arm around my waist.

"Well what does it mean if there's someone who you want to be friends with but they don't like you very much and every time you are around this person you stutter and blush and basically act like a klutz?" I blabbed out almost incoherently fast, hoping she didn't guess who I was talking about.

"Ooh Bella has a crush, who's the lucky guy?"

"Well that's the problem, I don't have a crush...I can't, she's not a guy", Why does this have to be so damn complicated? And why am I telling Alice about this, I've only known her two weeks for God's sake.

Alice gave me a sympathetic look," Oh Bella just because she is a she doesn't mean you don't have a crush."

"But I'm straight! I don't like girls..." I protested but I didn't even sound convincing to myself and I wondered who, in fact, I was trying to convince.

"Don't be so sure Bella, you know it's ok if you do", Alice was trying to comfort me, "Rose is bi, it's nothing to be ashamed of." Wait what did she just say? Rosalie Cullen is bisexual? Rosalie likes girls...This shouldn't make me feel anything so why do I want to smile so badly? Maybe Alice is right. Maybe I have feelings for Rosalie. Would that really be soo bad?

I hugged her and we kept walking, we were almost back at boarding anyway but had paused for a minute to finish talking. As we walked I apologised for dumping that on her but she only shrugged and told me that's what friends are for and that she was there whenever I needed. I just hoped like hell she hadn't worked out that I was talking about Rosalie and that her comment about her was only to make me feel better, not to hint at anything.

We got back to our house and when we reached my room Alice told me to meet them in their room as soon as I got changed. Angela wasn't in this weekend; she'd gone to one of her day girl friends houses so I had the room to myself although I wasn't planning on spending too much time in there. I dumped my bag and quickly changed into a typical sweater and jeans outfit and went to find Ali and Rosalie. I bumped into Esme on my way there and talked to her for a second to say hello and talk a little about the weekend. I got to Alice and Rosalie's room and knocked, hearing Alice call for me to come in I did just that.

Alice was lying on her bed with a pile of movies in front of her and Rosalie was standing with her hands on her hips obviously slightly pissed off at Alice whom she told to let me pick the first movie otherwise the decision would never be made. Alice then looked at me and held up a couple of movies but I couldn't talk, Rosalie happened to only be wearing a bra, undies and her stockings which made her body look devastatingly good. I felt the familiar rush of heat to my lower stomach and the pool of wetness dampening my underwear as I looked at her. No denying it now Bella. Rosalie finally moved to put a top on and I managed to shake myself out of it, hoping Alice didn't notice the blush that had risen to my cheeks. I pointed at the first movie without actually looking to see what it was.

"Ooh Darkness Falls, good choice!" Ali commented," Now Bella after we finish we're going to have to find you something cute to wear shopping tomorrow!" Great a scary movie and then outfit picking, I'm not sure which is worse. Do you think if I get scared Rosalie would hold my hand? Pfft who am I kidding, she would look down on me for being scared in the first place. Alice and I went down to make some popcorn while Rosalie set up the DVD on her laptop. She asked if I was feeling any better now and I said that I was, not necessarily true. It's easier now that I've talked about it and Alice has reassured me and told me about Rosalie but I'm guess it'll take me a little bit to really come to terms with it and I know I have no chance with her which is depressing.

We made the popcorn and went back up, walking in to find Rosalie glaring at the laptop. She turned around when we came in and explained, "This freaking laptop won't play the damn movie and it won't tell me why!" I walked over and realised she was trying to open it with the wrong player, I leaned over her and putting my hand on hers right clicked and told it to play with the right one. She smelt amazing, kind of like roses, and the spark of electricity ran up my hand again making it almost impossible for me to concentrate on what I was trying to do. I straightened and moved away as fast as I could, trying my hardest not to blush and give myself away.

"Thanks Bella"

"No problems" Smiling at her, looking away when I our eyes locked.

Rosalie had pulled their mattresses off of their beds and piled their doona's and a heap of pillows on top. We settled down leaning against the wall with the laptop in front of us and Ali pressed play. She ended up having a death grip on my hand by the middle of the movie and had screamed a couple of times, I had to admit I was pretty freaked out but I'm not the screaming type and Rosalie just shook her head and said she was glad I was in the middle not Alice. If only that was for a different reason.

After Darkness Falls we decided for Alice's sake to watch a happy movie so Sweet Home Alabama it was, I swear we've all seen the movie at least 20 times. After a while though I started to get fidgety, I'd been sitting in the same position for way too long and really wanted to lean on something but I was in the middle with Alice laying with her head on my lap. I glanced at Rosalie but there was no way in hell I would even consider asking her, she caught my glance, "You can lean on my shoulder if you're uncomfortable". I was stunned, she continues to surprise me, it's not like she even likes me that much. I thanked her and slid down so I was the right height and leant against her shoulder. After a while I felt her hand in my hair gently playing with it and stroking my head.

I woke up towards the end of the movie nestled against her shoulder, her hand still on my head and my thighs burning intensely from its actions. Who knew her simply touching me could make me so hot. I hope to Christ that I didn't snore or worse sleep talk! Fuck knows what I was dreaming about. We ended up sliding under the doonas and sleeping after the fifth movie, I can't even remember what the fourth or fifth one was called I was too busy drifting in and out of sleeping and enjoying myself. If I couldn't have her I was going to make the most of times like this; embed the feel of her into my memory. When we went to sleep Alice lay snuggled against my back but I was conscious of Rosalie's body just inches away from mine the whole night.

We woke up around 8.30 and went down to get breakfast in our pj's, stopping in to see Esme on our way. She asked if we had fun last night and mentioned that Carlisle was going to Port Angeles for the day if we wanted a ride but Alice protested.

"We'll just get him to take us home and I'll drive, my babies probably missing me!"

"You're baby?" I asked after we'd left Esme.

Rosalie answered me," You'll see"

We got dressed, signed out and met Carlisle in the car park. He was sitting in a very impressive, expensive looking Mercedes.

"Hey Carlisle! Thanks for picking us up. Carlisle this is Bella, Bella this is Carlisle".

Carlisle was beautiful, just like the rest of them, it was a wonder the nurses could concentrate on what they were doing around him. He was pale with blonde hair and kind blue eyes, built just like the other Cullen/Hale boys and it made you swear there was something in whatever they ate or drunk when they were at home but none of the others could even begin to compare to Rosalie.

"So this is Bella, I've heard so much about you it's a pleasure to finally meet you", he greeted me smiling.

We got to the house which was just out of town and Carlisle let us out and told us to have fun without getting up to too much mischief. I stepped out of the car and looked up, the house was amazing; so open and beautiful and it was in a sort of clearing with a small river one side and surrounding.

"C'mon Bella, you can look around the house some other time, let's get going!"

We headed towards the massive garage, "So what's with the 'her baby' thing?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes at me, "Patience really isn't your forte is it? You'll see in a second".

Alice opened the door and we walked into what I'm sure would be a car lovers heaven, there was a Jeep, Volvo, Ferrari and a Porsche lined up.

"Wow", I breathed and Rosalie just smirked, seriously what is it with this girl?

Alice danced over to the yellow Porsche, "Hello beautiful, I'm sorry it's been so long", running her hand along the body of the car before sliding in and gripping the steering wheel. Whoa obsession much, the thing was literally gleaming, you could see yourself in the reflection yet the tires indicated that it had been well driven.

"Hurry up you two! We're impatient."

"Get it yet?"

I just nodded and got in the back of the car, we took off down the drive way and by the time we were on the main road were doing well over the speed limit.


	4. The Weekend

**Hi all thank you soo much for adding my story to your alerts and even favourites! and I love everyone who reviewed, thanks in particular to Chelsea and Echoes of a Dream for their awesome ideas. :) **

**I'm so sorry that this has taken me so long to update and it's not my best chapter yet, I've been a little busy but I promise I will try to update faster in the future.**

**Now read and enjoy and if you are feeling kind you might like to review :)**

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**The Weekend**

**Bella**

"Alice slow down! You're going to get us killed!" The speed we were going was almost nauseating, why did Rosalie look so calm as if it was completely normal? She just gave me this look that said wimp and rolled her eyes, "Seriously Bella chill, she's not going to crash".

'Chilling' was not exactly easy but I eventually got used to the speed and realised that Alice wasn't that bad of a driver after all. It took us like half the time it was meant to to get to Port Angeles which clearly made Alice happy, more time for shopping! Oh joy. Alice dragged me to every clothing shop in the city I swear, the only the time we stopped was to grab some lunch. I tried not to complain too much because she was clearly enjoying herself but I felt like a freaking mannequin, they seemed to be concentrating all their efforts on finding clothes for me and making me try them on and buy them. I had to admit they had great taste in style but shopping just isn't my thing.

"Alright last shop!" I released a sigh of relief, finally we're nearly done! That is until I saw the last shop, my mouth dropped. "No! I am not; you guys have got to be kidding me." We were standing outside a lingerie store, and not the plain bonds

Rosalie gave me a look that dripped 'grow up' while Alice pleaded with her eyes, "C'mon Bella, you need something sexy to go under your new outfits".

"Hmph, whatever", I reluctantly followed them into the shop, this could be interesting at least as long as I wasn't the only one trying things on.

Ali started pulling items off of racks, lacy, frilly, see-through items that I swear I would never wear even if she tortured me. She made me try on every piece she threw at me, Rosalie standing in the hall outside looking bored as hell. Great my own personal torture – trying on lingerie for Alice while the sex god was standing outside fully clothed. She hadn't said a word to me since we came in, actually she hadn't said much to me all day she only looked at me when I talked and even then either shot me weird looks like the one outside or smirked at me.

In the end Alice insisted on buying me four sets of matching underwear, all lacy and black, red or both. I had to admit they were pretty sexy, but they were made for people like her and Rosalie, not me. We walked out of the shop and back to where the car was parked, one of us either side of Alice all lost in our own thought. I had a feeling Ali was just in ecstasy from all the shopping but I would kill to know what Rosalie was thinking about, not just now but all the time, she's so confusing.

"Hi ho, hi ho back to boarding we go", Alice sung as we hopped into the car, she was driving again and I hoped this time I wouldn't freak out so much. The car trip home was silent, comfortable yet tense. It gave me time to think over the day, it was surprisingly quite fun but Rosalie was like the ice queen all day. I didn't get it, she'd been so nice to me last night but I was starting to believe I'd dreamt it up after her attitude today. Alice was enthusiastic as usual but a little quieter, more pensive and I wondered what was on her mind.

We got back to the Cullen house and Rosalie skulked off to her room as soon as we got there without a word and I had a strong urge to ask her what was stuck up her arse today but decided against it for fear of my life. Alice gave me a guided tour of their house which really was spectacular, so modern and open yet homey. We skipped Rosalie's room and ended in Ali's which was the coolest room that I had seen in the whole house by far. It was bright and cheerful with books and CD's covering shelves along one wall, posters another and a large four poster bed in the middle with a large window directly in front of it. The window looked out onto the creek and woods which looked beautiful from her room. We had just finished looking around and were mucking around, listening to music when Alice finally shared was on her mind.

"Bella, the person you like, it's Rosalie isn't it?"

I gasped how did she guess, is it really that obvious? Does Rosalie know, is that why she's being bitchy? Oh god what would Alice think? Not only do I have the hots for a girl but that girl happens to be her adopted sister. I blushed and stuttered out my affirmative. "Y y yes, i is that weird for you? I'm sorry" I answered without looking her in the face.

"Bella seriously calm, it's fine. I think it's cute." Does anything faze this girl? I found myself cheering slightly as she smiled at me, the blush went down a little and I found the ability to speak coherently again.

"Oh, so you're cool with it? What about Rosalie does she suspect anything? Do you know if I have a chance?"

"Yes of course I am! I'm not sure; she hasn't mentioned anything to me about it and as for your last question that's for you to find out not me." Oh great so I finally have a chance of getting into her head and I get nothing, absolutely nothing. Oh well at least I know I don't have to hide it from Alice now. I heard the door down stairs open and Esme's gentle voice call out to us, letting us know she was here.

It was almost grudgingly that I left, the house was beautiful and Alice seemed more relaxed here, it was comforting but we had to get back to boarding.

"Hey Bella, do you want to come over next weekend? We can have another movie marathon, or maybe bake some cookies or something or go on a picnic!" From Alice's tone you would expect that we were back in the 3rd grade but it was contagious and I found myself quite liking the idea, hanging around boarding reading classic's for the billionth time. "Sure, sounds like fun"

"Awesome it's a date, that's as long as it's ok with you Esme? I just figured that it's your weekend off so me and Rose and maybe the boys might be coming home anyway and that you wouldn't mind if Bella tagged along"

"Its fine honey, it's a lovely idea"

We got back and went our separate ways, after Alice helped carry all my new clothes to my room, and I had to admit I was exhausted. I dumped my stuff and flopped on the bed, Angela was still out and without any disturbances drifted off without realising. When I woke up it was dark and someone was pulling off my shoes, I lifted an eyelid and saw Alice taking them off for me and sliding me under the covers. I made a mental note to thank her in the morning.

The next thing I knew it was light again, I was no longer tired and Alice was jumping on me.

"Wake up sleepyhead! Have a shower and get changed, you need to have breakfast!"

I gave her a puzzled look, "Well you didn't have tea last night 'cause you slept through it so we're going to have breakfast with Esme"

"Um ok", I still wasn't completely sure what was going having only just woken up but I decided to go with whatever Alice was saying, "What's the time anyways?"

"7.30"

"What!? You woke me up at 7.30am on a Sunday? What planet are you living on woman?" Just as I finished yelling this at her Rosalie walked in rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "agreed, Ali seriously what the hell?"

"Do you guys want pancakes and bacon and eggs or not?" We nodded as she expected as to," exactly so hurry up and get moving!"

Man this chick had way too much energy for this early Sunday morning.

15 minutes later I met them in their room and we walked to Esme's unit together, the smell that wafted out to greet us as we approached was so delicious that my mouth was watering before we even walked into the kitchen. On the table was what I swear was the best breakfast I'd ever had, pancakes with berries and syrup, bacon, eggs, sausages and bake beans. There was enough food to feed us for a month, by the time I had finished my stomach was on the verge of overflowing and I felt slightly nauseous but it was worth it, if I died then I would die happy. It wasn't just the food, it was the whole atmosphere, Rosalie had thawed out today and we all just clicked, Esme treated me like family and I loved being with them.

"Now you girls make sure your homework's done so you're not up late tonight, ok?" Esme called after us as Alice skipped off with us in tow to find some trouble for us to get into. It came in the form of karaoke, the trouble was that I can't sing and I was pretty sure that they would be good at this, just like they are everything else. I was right of course; they had beautiful voices but for my sake Alice sung badly any way and it was actually kind of fun, surprisingly.

"Hey Ali I'm bored, let's take her to the creek"

"The creek?"

"You'll see". There was no point arguing with that, I'd already learnt that Rosalie didn't give in easily.

"Good idea, Bella go grab your shoes we're going for a walk", why don't either of them ever tell me what's going on, it's so frustrating. I grabbed my shoes and met them in front office to sign out. They led me along and Alice slid her arm through mine and started skipping, soon we were in fits of laughter, trying to get Rosalie join on. She finally put her arm through mine, causing tingles along my arm, and we all skipped along singing "We're off to see the wizard" at excess volumes. We broke off after a minute or so and I realised I could hear the bubbling of a nearby stream, that must be where they're taking me.

I lagged behind a little, looking around. I'd never seen much of the grounds apart from the path to and from school, they were actually quite beautiful. "Come on Bella we're there!" Alice was holding back some branches for Rosalie and I to walk past. I stepped past her and found myself in a small clear area with a stream running through the middle and the thick vegetation around the outside almost creating walls. It was one of the most amazing places I'd seen. "OMG it's gorgeous!"

"It sure is. I found it one day when I wandering aimlessly just to get out of boarding, ever since it's been my little hideaway. You and Alice are the only other people who know about it so don't bring anyone else here ok?"

"I promise I won't", I looked over at Alice to see her crouching next to the water playing around and I had the sudden idea to push her in. I smiled to myself and started sneaking up behind her but Rosalie saw me and must have guessed what I'd planned to do, the next thing I knew I was sitting in the middle of the stream, completely saturated. Rosalie and Alice completely pissed themselves laughing at me, not that I found it very funny. "You are going to pay Rosalie Hale!"

"Make me."

"Oh I will don't you worry about that", starting a massive water fight which left us all completely soaked and giggling.

"Come on guy's let's get back to boarding before we freeze". We walked in the door and the Esme, who happened to be the housemum manning the door, just looked at us and shook her head, "I don't even want to know".


	5. From Yoga to Headbanging

**Hi guys sorry it's taken me so long to update I've been kinda busy with school lately but hopefully I'll start updating a bit faster soon. This is basically just a filler so sorry it's so short but yeah still review please :)**

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**From Yoga to Head Banging**

The next week went by reasonably uneventfully except that I seemed to be falling even harder for Rosalie who, in return was having massive almost daily mood swings in terms of her attitude towards me. It was just like the weekend, one day she would be nice and really friendly and then other days if looks could kill I would be dead it's like she's freaking split personality or something and it is seriously getting on my nerves. If she hasn't cut it out by the weekend I swear I will slap her or something. No I won't, we all know I don't have the guts to do that; this is me, Bella Swan talking. I need to change that, if I want something I have to stand up for myself, it might be the only way she will respect me.

So it's organised that I'm going to the Cullen's house this weekend, Esme's taking us girls out Friday, tomorrow, and bringing us back Sunday but the boys are only going to be there Sunday morning. I'm actually really excited about going over; all of the family are really nice and make me feel welcome, well other than Rosalie. Trust me to pick the complicated one. I'm not entirely sure what we're doing but I think it involves another movie night Friday night and a picnic lunch Saturday.

Angela was in Lauren and Jessica's room again, they're probably bitching about me and the Cullen's again to her. One day they'll say it to my face and hopefully I'll find the guts to put a stop to it one way or another. I have to start being strong, not so easy to push around. I'd done all my homework and was bored so I decided to go see what Alice, and I must admit Rosalie, was up to. I walked in to find Alice in the middle of doing a downward facing dog with eerie calming music playing while Rosalie was lying on her bed reading. I didn't realise Ali did yoga, it's kind of cool. I stood in the doorway awkwardly for a couple of seconds not knowing what to do when Rosalie looked up rolled her eyes and gestured for me to come in.

I sat down on the edge of her bed, trying to avoid any contact with her, my skin was still doing that tingly thing whenever I came into contact with her and I wondered if she felt it too. "Ali does yoga?"

"Nope she's just on the ground doing poses for absolutely no reason, yes she does yoga dumbass"

"I've never seen her doing it before, I was just curious" I bit back at her; I was not going to take her bitchiness.

Alice somehow gracefully fell out of a shoulder stand and shook her head at us, "can't you two just get along for like a minute?"

We glanced at each other and simultaneously said no. Truth be told I didn't mind fighting with her; at least she was talking to me not ignoring me as if I didn't exist.

"Whatever, go back to your book Rose." She held out her hand to pull me up, "C'mon honey lets go to your room and leave grumpy to herself". I couldn't help notice the small glare that Rosalie shot Alice when she called me honey and it surprised me, what the hell is going on here? The small narrowing of the eyes turned into a full on death stare by the end of the sentence though and I thought I might have imagined seeing it. Alice and I went back to my room and just chatted and mucked around. After a while I turned my radio on and we started dancing idiotically to the music, rocking out to the fast songs and swaying together during the slow ones. I giggled to myself when I realised how contrasting Alice's persona could be, it'd only been half an hour ago that she was doing yoga listening to calming music and now she was head banging.

The next day went slowly, tediously so. In all my classes the teachers just droned on, my only relief being those classes that I shared with Angela, Edward and Alice. This left me alone with my thoughts during the rest of them; continuous scenarios of how the weekend could pan out were going through my head. Most were idiotic, pathetic and probably impossible scenarios. Some ended with me slapping Rosalie while others involved us engaged in a whole other kind of heated activity. It was just my luck that it was during one such scenario, when I had just leaned in to kiss Rosalie, that one of my teachers called on me to answer a question. I blushed at having been caught day dreaming even though no-one knew what about and answered, counting myself lucky that the question was written on the board.

I picked up my books and all but ran out the door as soon as the bell rang for lunch. The day couldn't be over quick enough for my liking, I really was excited about this weekend. I got to the cafeteria and walked straight to our usual table looking for Alice as I got closer but I couldn't see her. I slid my tray in next to Edward, "Hey guys, where's Ali?"

"Hey Bella, Esme let her skip this afternoon to set the house up for tonight", Rosalie answered me with a surprisingly warm smile.

I was a little shocked, "why would she need a whole afternoon to get ready?"

"This is Alice we're talking about"

"Good point".

**Jasper**

I chuckled to myself, dear Bella was quickly becoming part of the family but she still had a lot to learn. None of us had even batted an eyelid when Ali said she was going to get ready, we thought it was perfectly normal but the confusion on Bella's face showed she still had to get used to Alice's enthusiasm. I looked over at Rose and Bella talking and noticed that they both only seemed to have eyes for each other. If it wasn't a common occurrence I would have brushed it off and thought it was only because Ali wasn't there but every day, if Alice isn't hogging her attention, Bella spends her lunch times basically gazing at Rose. I've had a feeling for a while now that Bella has a crush on Rose but now that I look at her as well it certainly doesn't seem one sided.

**Bella**

Rosalie drove us to the Cullen's house at about the same speed as Alice had been driving on the weekend, if not faster, but this time my heart was racing for other reasons. She looked over at me and smiled when she saw that I was actually managing to appear relaxed. I reached forward to turn the radio on at the same time as Rose and our hands brushed, sending a shiver up my arm. I looked up at her to see if she had felt it too and for a second it almost seemed she had but then she laughed briefly and pulled her hand away. I turned the radio on and sat back relaxing into the chair. We stayed like that for the rest of the way, her concentrating on the road and I lost in the music and my thought apart from the occasional small talk.

We got to the house and Rose surprised me by walking around to open my door for me. We smiled at each other again and I thanked her as Alice came skipping out from the house

"Bella! Rose! You're finally here"

"Hey Ali, missed you at lunch", I said while matching her huge grin. Rose just rolled her eyes and walked inside as we hugged. I followed her in to find the living room completely rearranged; the piano had been pushed back, the lounge chairs arranged around the plasma TV with piles of rugs and pillows heaped in front, the fire was already going with a blanket laid in front of it with sticks and marshmallows and I saw mountains of DVDs and nail polish. Hmm this could be one interesting weekend. Ali looked at my slightly awed but wary facial expression and promptly informed me there was also a hoard of food including popcorn and chocolate.

"This is going to be the best weekend!" she squealed causing Rosalie to throw me a bemused smile.

"Hi girls, how was school?" Esme walked in from the kitchen, she has such a welcoming motherly vibe that she makes me feel like part of the family already.

"Good thanks Esme"

"Come put your bags in Alice's room Bella and then there are some cookies waiting in the kitchen thanks to her". She led me up the stairs even though I already knew my way.

"Bella dear..." Esme paused clearly searching for the words to say something to me although about what I wasn't sure.

"Yes Esme?"

"Well I just wanted to tell you that Alice told me about your situation with Rosalie and that I'm fully supportive of you. Rosalie's a complicated girl. Just hang in there and it'll work out". Wow. That was a surprise, I wasn't angry with Alice for betraying my confidence just shocked at how well Esme had taken it.

"Thank you".

We went back down to the others who had already started on the cookies; they were choc chip and smelt fantastic. Rose poured me a glass and slid the plate towards me.

"Tuck in before the bottomless pit here eats them all", that caused Alice to elbow her in the ribs, starting a play fight with Rose arguing that it was true not that you could tell from the size of her. Both of them looked like they only ate about once a month, they could have been models. I grabbed a cookie and tasted it. It was like heaven to my tastebuds.

"Wow Esme these are amazing!"

They all giggled and Esme thanked me graciously, I glanced over at Rose to see her smiling at me sweetly. Why the change in mood? Maybe it was being at home or because it's finally the end of the week I don't know. Whatever it was I didn't care as long as she was like this although I had a feeling it wouldn't last long.

We finished the cookies and went to the living room. As we walked in Alice screamed and ran to the radio to turn it up.

"I love this song!" She skipped over to Rose and started dancing with her. As stood and watched I couldn't help but think that Rosalie deserved someone as beautiful as Alice or someone like Emmet, not me. I thought back to Esme's words, "just hang in there and it'll work out", does that mean she thinks I have a chance? I decided to follow her advice for the moment as well as keep up my resolve not to let her walk all over me and see how things go from there. I hadn't realised I'd zoned out until I felt Alice take my hands and start moving me with the music. My eyes flicked to Rose and noticed her watching us very closely so I decided to turn it up a little, have some fun and see how she reacted.

I pulled Ali a little closer to me and started moving my hips more sensually than before, she noticed and joined in, I wondered whether she had the same idea as I did. I normally had no idea when it came to dirty dancing so I just followed her and hoped like hell I didn't look like a complete idiot. I turned around at one point and saw her face which was focused on me and my body with what could have been a hungry look in her eye until she realised I was watching her and she quickly looked away. I could have sworn there was a faint pink hue to her cheeks but before I had the chance to look properly Alice had spun me back around. Ali gave me a puzzled look which had me confused for a second before I realised I had the goofiest look on my face. Rosalie Hale was watching me dance, like really watching.

The song ended and I noticed her glaring at Alice again. As the next song began she strode over to me, gave Alice a meaningful look and grabbed my hands in much the same way Ali had with one minor difference; this time I had electric sparks flying up and down my arms. We danced for the whole song and every time I ended up pressed up against her I prayed it wouldn't end. Being so close to her like that felt perfect and I didn't want the song to end, ever. Despite my strongest wishes it did all too soon and for a few seconds we stayed where we were, with her arms on my waist, just staring at each other until she seemed to snap out of it and quickly pulled away.

"So Alice what's first?"


	6. The Sleepover

**Hey guys I'm soo sorry about the wait I had exams and then at home I had limited access to the computer and then for the last couple of weeks my internets been screwed but I'm back now and the next chapter shouldn't be too far away. As usual reviews are loved and enjoy :)**

**The Sleepover**

We did each other's hair, makeup and nails, things I had not done since I was a little girl with my mum on her days off and it was surprisingly fun. I had never been much of a girly girl although I had tried ballet when I was younger until I realised I was too clumsy and uncoordinated. We took photos and then decided to have showers and get ready for some 'serious' movie watching and marshmallow roasting. I stood in the shower and let the water wash away the layers of makeup and hairspray as well as my insecurities. I was doing well so far this weekend I hadn't been reduced to a blushing, babbling mess in her presence yet and I was actually having fun although don't tell Alice that. Rose had been perfectly sweet to me and there were times I had gotten so lost in talking with her that I had completely forgot Alice was in the room. When she was like this, it was not so hard to remember why I fell for her.

I walked back downstairs and realised that Alice had not come down yet and Rosalie was standing in the living room wearing short cotton shorts and a clingy revealing black singlet. I stood in the doorway staring at her as she flicked through the piles of movies; she was amazing. The fire made her features look soft while the black contrasted with her pale, pale skin and her hair flowed gently down her back in soft blonde waves. She eventually seemed to sense my presence and turned to look at me.

"Hey, sorry I didn't hear you come in"

"That's okay I was just looking around, you're so beautiful" Oh shit did I just say that? Quick Bella think, save yourself! "I mean your house is so beautiful...not that you're not either" Smooth Bells smooth, way to make it worse.

"Thank you, you're not too bad yourself", I was surprised to hear her giggle and inwardly did cartwheels at the half compliment. I wasn't sure what to say next and thankfully Alice glided into the room before I needed to come up with anything.

"Sorry I took so long guys but there's no need to fear Alice is here!"

"You're a douche Sis" Rose put my thoughts into words and stuck her tongue at her.

"Rose! Why isn't there a movie set up yet?"

"Maybe because I thought you and Bella might like to have your input on what movie we should watch"

"Oh, I don't mind really" I mumbled but got the feeling that neither of them would notice me even if I yelled it, they were too busy arguing. I walked over to one of the mountains of DVDs and picked up the first one; 10 Things I Hate About You. I had not seen that in years but it was really good and easy to watch. I decided that telling the others about my choice probably still wouldn't get anything done so I walked over to the DVD player and started setting it up myself. They only noticed what I was doing when the ads came on; Alice turned around and started telling me off for troubling myself. I quickly pointed out that it was better than sitting there listening to their pathetic argument which seemed to be getting nowhere and subsequently shut her up.

_Sunshine on my window makes me happy like a should be_

The opening song came on and Alice squealed, "I love this movie!"

We all laughed and settled down on the blankets and pillows to watch. I ended up slightly leaning against Rose with Ali lying across us. My right arm was constantly tingling from the contact and I was aware of every tiny movement she made keeping my stomach in knots for the entire movie. I wanted nothing more than to just drape my arm around her and pull her closer but I ignored the urge and stayed as I was. It was made worse by the fact that she smelt so wonderful and our close proximity meant I was enveloped in her fresh, sweet scent. The movie ended and we giggled as we re-enacted our favourite scenes until Esme called out to us that dinner was ready.

"Pizza!" Alice beamed, "We made it ourselves this afternoon"

"Oh no Bella don't touch it we'll get food poisoning!" Rosalie teased but stopped when Alice started glaring at her. "C'mon Ali I'm only joking"

"Wow Mrs Uptight actually knows what a joke is?" Ouch even I thought that was low although I had to admit it was true to a point.

"Girls settle down, don't worry Bella it's only sisterly love"

They took the hint and we all sat down at the kitchen table to eat. The pizza was just as good as the cookies had been and I was starting to wonder if there was much Alice couldn't do well. We all chatted freely and easily as we ate and I realised that I could get very used to this, it was more comfortable than dinner with Renee and Phil where the conversation was normally forced and slightly awkward.

We finished and helped Esme with the washing up and then went to decide on another movie. Alice decided that we should watch something slightly scarier without being an actual horror movie and Rosalie suggested the latest Sherlock Holmes. I had already seen it but it was a good movie so I agreed to it. The seating arrangement was the same as the last movie with the same distraction except that I was in better control this time. Somehow, during the movie without realising I was doing it I moved my hand to hold Rosalie's and she intertwined our fingers, I looked down when I felt the contact and smiled to myself.

After the movie, Alice voted that it was time for chocolate. We decided to set the chocolate fountain up next to the fire so we could have roast marshmallows and strawberries with chocolate at the same time. This weekend was going to be so fattening, not that it would affect the other two who both seem to have extra high metabolism. Oh well what's one weekend? I'll go for a run or something. Yeah right, me running would be practically suicidal.

Rosalie glanced up at me and smirked. Leaning over to me she gently wiped a smudge of chocolate from just below the corner of my mouth bringing it back to my own and licking it off. The whole time we kept eye contact and I could see the amusement dancing in her eyes mixed with something else I couldn't name. Her touch left my skin tingling while her tongues actions caused my body to react strongly in other ways. I blushed at the way it had affected me and wondered if Rosalie knew what I had been doing with Alice earlier and decided to join in.

Esme walked in and remained unnoticed by both of us until she directly addressed us.

"Rose. Bella. Carlisle and I are going to bed, have fun", smiling at us she shot a glance at Alice as she left the room.

"So shall we set up our beds and watch some more movies?"

We laid our sleeping bags out in front of the TV, Alice in the middle this time to my relief and disappointment, and put another movie on and by the end of the next movie we were all asleep.

The rest of the weekend flew by enjoyably. Esme was lovely, making me feel like part of the family and I felt incredibly lucky when I thought about how exclusive the Cullen family seemed. They are all so nice and welcoming though so I couldn't understand why I was the only non-Cullen in their little group but I was glad I had been accepted. The boys arrived Sunday morning, Jasper and Alice disappeared for a while but Edward and Emmet kept me occupied. Edward playing piano and Emmet just talking and joking around with me, Rose was around somewhere but she didn't say much just floated between us and Esme and Carlisle. By the end of the weekend she wasn't cold towards me as such just nowhere near as cosy as she had been Friday night. I still had no idea why her attitude towards me kept changing it was infuriating and I wasn't sure I would ever find out.

Monday at school, Rosalie was back to her cold, bitchy self and was either completely directing snide comments at me or ignoring me when she saw me. I sat at the opposite end of the table with Edward and Emmet at lunch so that she didn't have to trouble herself by looking at me. I was joking around with Emmet when Edward quietly muttered,

"Here comes trouble..."

I glanced around to see Mike shyly making his way over to our table.

"What's he coming over here for?" Emmet wondered aloud.

"Probably to ask Bella out or something", Edward smirked while I glared at him although he was possibly right. The boy had had an obvious crush on me since I'd started at Forkes although I thought by now he would have realised that I didn't like him like that. He's nice and all but we all know I'm in love with another blonde who happened to be sitting at the other end of the table.

"Hey Bella", He'd reached us and was looking pretty nervous.

"Hey Mike"

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Ah, sure..." We got up and walked a few steps away, although I knew we were still within hearing range, and I prepared myself to put the poor guy out of his misery if he was indeed about to ask me out.

"Umm, well I was just wondering if you would like to go see a movie with me on Friday night. Like on a date", I was thinking of how to reply when I looked up and saw the unimpressed look on Rose's face and an idea suddenly formed itself in my head.

"Yeah sure, sounds fun. I'll organise the details with you later okay?"

"Awesome! Well umm...have a good lunch, see you in class!" He ran off smiling. I really hope this works. I sat back down at the table and they all looked at me with a slightly confused expression and the people started making fun of me but Rosalie looked away and Alice kept trying to silently question me.

For the rest of the week Mike smiled at me over enthusiastically every time he saw me and tried to talk to me as much as possible. Rosalie's behaviour was the complete opposite and, if possible, she withdrew further. There were quite a few times when, thinking back over my decision, I regretted agreeing to go out with Mike. It was cruel to lead him on and it was going to be a painful few hours but that was my own fault for being too scared to actually talk to Rosalie about my feelings.

Following every regretful thought though I remembered the frustration that had driven me to make my decision in the first place and all doubts were gone. I couldn't put up with her on-offness; her continuous change of attitude towards me. I'm not a toy which she be nice to some days and a bitch to others and just keep going back to as if I'm meaningless and don't have feelings. I feel bad but I have to make my point.

I didn't want to have to explain to Renee so I asked Esme to sign my permission forms. She didn't look too happy about it though and who could blame her? I was essentially playing with her daughters feelings.

"Bella are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Not really but I can't let Mike down now and Rose has to realise she can't keep playing hot and cold with me"

"Ok..." She sighed resignedly and signed the forms.

When Friday afternoon finally came I was full of anxiety and hoping like hell for the best. I was getting ready and chatting with Angela when Jess and Lauren walked in. Just what I needed.

"Oo Bella looking good", Jess commented as she sat down, "So Mike hey? Bout time you started hanging out with normal people"

"What are you trying to say?" My eyes narrowed at what she was implying.

"Nothing really, just that the Cullen's are, like, weird. Especially that Rosalie chick" Oh she did not just insult Rosalie and expect to get away with it.

"For your information the Cullen's happen to be some of the nicest people I've ever met which is more than I can say for some", I bit back pointedly looking at her, "that includes Rose".

"Whatever, they're still weird and she's, like, a bitch"

"It takes one to know one". I couldn't be bothered with her petty argument any more and grabbed my purse and walked out, "seeya Ange"

Thankfully Mike texted me as I walked out to say that he was here to pick me up. For a second as I walked to the sign out desk I wondered where Ali and Rose were, it seemed weird that Alice hadn't tried to come dress me and it was weird that I hadn't seen her but she hadn't mentioned going out this weekend. I dismissed the thought and composed myself; I could at least try to have fun tonight. I reached the desk and Mike grinned at me widely making me feel bad for him again but pushed it aside and smiled back.

"Hey Bella"

"Hey"

"You look really pretty tonight"

"Thanks, shall we get going?"

He led me out to his car and opened my door for me. For the first few minutes we unsuccessfully tried to make casual conversation but soon gave up until, after a while, Mike decided to fill the silence and started some story about him and Erik. As usual I ended up in my own thoughts, nodding and smiling in the right places hoping he wouldn't say anything I would need to remember.

We walked into the cinema holding hands, later I would have to explain to Mike that this wasn't going to work but for now I didn't want to ruin the night for him. We had decided during the week to see some new action movie, he'd looked a little disappointed but I didn't think I could handle sitting through a sappy romance with him. Mike insisted on buying my ticket and snacks and once again the guilt hit me but I pushed it back, hoping it would all end well. Although it's not normally my thing I had to admit that the movie wasn't bad. We were still holding hands and the whole time I was thinking of the last person to hold my hand and how much nicer it had felt while pretending not to notice Mike glancing at me throughout most of the movie.

Afterwards we walked down the street to a little cafe and grabbed some food. We sat talking and joking for ages and found myself actually enjoying it. We were sitting at a corner booth facing the window and had just finished eating when I felt eyes on me; I glanced up to see Alice and Rosalie walking along the street outside watching us. I pretended not to notice turned to Mike and kissed him gently although I pulled away quickly. That was so not nice. I looked up and Alice looked completely shocked while Rosalie was glaring. I smiled and waved, Alice waved back but Rosalie just ignored me and then they had passed.

I turned back to Mike who appeared to still be shocked about me kissing him but pleased at the same time and I sincerely hoped he wouldn't expect a repeat.

"We should probably go soon"

"What? Oh right yeah"

We paid for our food and then walked back to his car. The trip was once again mostly silent except his occasional commentary about the movie while I dreaded the coming conversation. He parked at boarding and was about to get out when I motioned for him to stay put.

"Look Mike tonight was heaps of fun..."

"I thought so too, we should do it again soon!" Mike cut in before I had finished, he was going to make this hard.

"Maybe as friends", his face dropped immediately, "you're a great guy really but I don't think of you like that"

"But you kissed me!"Oh crap how do I explain?

"Yeah I know I'm sorry about that I guess I just wanted to try and see..."

"It's okay I kind of knew already. Well umm if you ever change your mind..."

"I'll know who to come to", I kissed him on the cheek and we got out. He walked me to the door where I apologised again, we hugged and then went our separate ways.

I got back to my room and Angela was already asleep. I wasn't ready to face either Rosalie or Alice yet and instead showered and went to bed early. I didn't manage to get to sleep for a while though as I thought back over the night. I'd succeeded in getting a reaction yet I didn't feel happy about it in the least. Of course the evidence of everything put together proving that she really did like me normally would have made me ecstatic but paired with the doubts caused by her attitude and my actions tonight resulted in me just feeling anxious. By the time I finally fell asleep it was already tomorrow and not long before I would have to face the results of my night.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys sorry about the short chapter, I won't be able to update for a week or two so I thought I would leave you with this. enjoy :) reviews are always loved.**

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Chapter 7

In the morning I was woken up by a pixie bouncing on the edge of my bed and staring at me. I looked over to my alarm clock and groaned. 6am.

"For God's sake Alice! Why are you waking me up so early on a Saturday?"

"Because you have some explaining to do missy", She hissed at me," What the hell were you playing at last night?"

"Whaddaya mean?" It is way too early in the morning for this.

"You know exactly what I mean". Oh, crap that's right I went out with Mike last night and completely pissed Rosalie off by kissing him...

"Serves her right for watching and why should it worry her?"

"Bella don't play dumb, we both know she likes you" Actually I didn't know I just hoped she did. There were things pointing in my favour like her behaviour last weekend but the rest of the time she was acting like a cold bitch.

"Well maybe now she'll admit it rather than being a bitch"

"Like your actions were much better"

"Argh I know and I feel bad okay? I just needed to show her that she can't play with me, I have options"

Alice sighed but didn't say anything as she leaned across to hug me. After a moment she got up and grabbed my hand to lead me out of the room. It took me a little while to realise where she was taking me and we were nearly at her door before I started protesting.

"No Alice I can't face her yet"

"Bella you have to or you guys will never sort it out" With that she opened the door and all but shoved me inside. Well here come my answers, do I really want them though? If Alice is right then she does like me, but will she really admit it to me? This is Rosalie we're talking about. Then I was standing in front of her and I have to say she's really sexy when she's angry.

"What do you want?" She snapped at me.

"Um nothing...just saying hi and...Sorry." Oh just great, I sound like a babbling idiot and I only have myself to blame.

"What are you sorry for?" Brilliant she was going to make me say it.

"For going out with Mike and kissing him to piss you off", I was hanging my head in shame.

"And why would that piss me off?"

"I don't know, why don't you tell me? You obviously hate me most the time"

"Oh for god's sake Bella I don't hate you! You were just acting like a fucking slut." We had gradually been edging closer as we were arguing so that now we were standing in front of each other, close enough that I could smell her amazingly sweet scent and had to look up to talk to her and I reached up to slap her. How dare she call me a slut?

For a second she looked completely shocked and then her lips came crashing down on mine. Their gentle softness soothed my anger and I lost all thought except for how amazing she was the kiss was even better than in my dreams. She ran her tongue along my bottom lip begging for entrance, I remembered my anger, and despite my bodies resistance I pushed away.

"I'm not a toy, you can't just play with me when you want to, and I was only being a slut to prove that"

"You're one to talk about playing", she smirked at me as she said showing me that she'd forgiven me.

"I was only trying to show you that you can't play hot and cold with me and to make you admit you liked me"

"I'm pretty sure I just did that. I was confused and didn't know how you felt...I'm sorry"

This time I leaned up to capture her lips again, wrapping my hands around her neck. She kissed me back, pulling me closer to her. Oh my god this is what I've been missing. Screw being angry. I felt her hands sliding down my back just before we were interrupted clearing their throat. Shit Alice! I'd forgotten about her.

"Sorry Ali", Rosalie mumbled, wow was she actually blushing?

"I'm glad this is sorted out but seriously waits until I've left the room next time" Alice half joked good-naturedly, "Anyway I'm going to go find Esme and fill her in"

She left the room quickly and Rosalie and I were both quiet and slightly embarrassed.

"Rose I'm sorry about Mike, I told him it wouldn't work..."

"It's okay Bella; would you umm...like to go out with me instead?"

"Yes" I couldn't wipe the idiotic grin off my face; Rosalie Hale just asked me out and kissed me, twice!

"Nice bed hair by the way"

"Shut up it's Alice's fault", I replied blushing a little when I remembered I was still in my pyjamas.

"Don't worry I think it's sexy", I blushed harder despite my deepest wishes. Without me noticing Rosalie had moved extremely close to me again and leaned down to whisper teasingly in my ear, "It's cute when you blush too"

"Not as cute or sexy as you are all the time", I countered although at the present time I couldn't care less that compared to her I was plain and barely pretty.

"Never say that," She ordered firmly before moving her mouth to mine. Our lips moved perfectly against each other and our tongues fought for dominance while her hands ran down my back again causing my whole body to tingle. She'd moved us slowly so that I was half sitting on and half leaning against the bed and was pushing me against it. Her thigh moved up between my legs grinding against me and causing me to shiver from pleasure. I moved one of my hands from where it was tangled in her hair to start unbuttoning her shirt when we were once again interrupted but this time it wasn't just Alice.

Esme cleared her throat and I immediately pulled my hands back, blushing a deep red at the shame of being caught making out with her daughter.

"Sorry Esme" I squeaked. Rose moved to lean beside me and put her arm around my waist. She seemed so calm, her adoptive mother just walked in on us full on making out and she's fine, for that matter so was Esme...

"It's okay Bella, you've both been waiting a while," Esme smiled at me, "Alice just came to tell me the good news and I came to say I was happy for you "

"Thanks Mum"

"And..." Alice prompted her.

"Oh I wasn't sure how this weekend would go so I filled out forms to take you all out tonight, the boys are coming too"

"Awesome"

Esme left to go whatever housemothery stuff she needed to do on a Saturday morning and left us to do whatever we wanted saying she would take us home at 12. I went over to Rose's bed and crawled under the covers. After lying listening to them whispering on Alice's side of the room for a while before drifting back to sleep, smiling internally.


	8. Early Days

**I'm soo sorry for the long wait guys, I wasn't really sure how to continue from here but I have an idea now so it's all good. This chapter was going to be longer but I decided to post this so far so you didn't have to wait as long. reviews are loved XD thank you to all who have. Now ENJOY :)**

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Early Days

I eventually went back to my own room to dress and pack while letting my head try and fully process everything that had just happened. I was smiling unconsciously the whole time and only noticed when Angela rolled over and asked me why I was so happy. I considered lying to her but I trusted Ange and we had become close over the weeks so I decided to tell her.

"Rosalie and I are together"

"As in you're together together?" she sounded wary, "Like going out?"

I nodded in reply, a little worried by how she was reacting.

"About bloody time!" she exclaimed laughing.

"You knew?"

"Sweetie it's been obvious from the first time I saw you look at each other"

"Oh, so I take it you're okay with us?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" I smiled at her in gratitude and finished packing as Rose knocked on our door and walked in. I zipped up my bag, threw it over my shoulder, and started to walk out with her, saying goodbye to Angela.

"Seeya lovebirds, don't have too much fun", she laughed at us. I flipped her off and grabbed Rose's hand as she raised her eyebrows at me.

"Sorry I had to tell her."

I pulled her out the door and we signed out together meeting Alice and Esme at the car. We arrived at the Cullen residence and I started panicking, what if they don't approve? Sure, they all liked me before but now I am their sister's girlfriend, they might feel differently. Rosalie must have felt me tense or noticed me paling, if that was even possible, because she let go of my hand to slide her arm around my waist. She pulled me closer and whispered in my ear for me to calm down and I immediately felt more relaxed. Damn this girl did crazy things to me.

The boys were already there and playing x-box, the sound of guns and violence attacking us as we walked through the door. They all acknowledged our presence without taking their attention from the game for very long.

"Hey girls", Edward greeted us with a wink, "It's about time". Jasper just nodded at us without even taking his eyes off the game but he was just being a typical guy and I wasn't offended at all. Emmet waved enthusiastically and as we turned to leave them to it he looked up at us innocently, "Can I watch?"

"NO!" we both yelled at him in unison.

"Aww, but..." he whined like a five year old. Rose rolled her eyes at him then led me to the stairs and her room. I had been into Ali's before but never hers and I had to admit I was curious to see it, boarding didn't really give us many options in the way of expressing ourselves and I wanted to see her in her natural environment.

Hers was the first door; she opened it and revealed her room. It was beautiful. Everything was elegant and stylish just like Rosalie herself. The walls were a light cream colour and all the furniture was polished wood there were shelves of books, CD's, car magazines, miniature cars and a full-length mirror. She had a four-poster bed against the wall in the middle of the room with red sheets and a massive window opposite the door. We walked into the room and I saw that the view from her window looked over the forest and mountains in the background.

"It's beautiful", I said nervously suddenly aware that we were alone in her room.

"Yes", she replied staring at me and it crossed my mind that she was not talking about her room or the view. I moved closer to her, sliding my arms around her neck and capturing her lips. She pulled me closer and kissed me back harder and in that moment the only things I could think about were how amazingly soft her lips were and how much I wanted Rosalie Hale. Now. I took control, sliding my hand up her shirt to her boobs before getting fed up with the amount of clothing we still had on. I moved to take her shirt off and she lifted her arms to help. Rose quickly pulled my shirt off as we moved back and onto her bed. We stopped kissing as she moved her mouth down to my neck, I gasped as she bit down, shivering at the sensation and hoping to God I'd be able to cover the mark easily. She returned to kissing my mouth as her hands circled me to undo my bra and as soon as it was out of the way, her hand went to playing with my nipple until they were both hard peaks.

I attempted to roll us over to regain control but Rosalie had other ideas pinning my hands above my head and grinding her thigh into me making me whimper. She moved down my body to capture my left nipple in her mouth, her hand teasing the other one before swapping nipples and moving her hand down my stomach. She reached the top of my jeans and stopped, suddenly becoming serious.

"Bella are you sure? I don't want to go too fast for you", she was right in the fact that we were going fast but I had wanted this so badly for ages now and it felt right. Before I got the chance to convey this to her though we heard a whispered protest to us having stopped and noticed that the door was open a crack. Rose got up, holding her shirt against her, threw mine at me and stormed to the door, the look on her face showing just how pissed off she was.

"EMMET CULLEN! You are so dead when I get my hands on you!" She called down the stairs after him. She turned to apologise to me when she realised I was giggling, at first I had been just as angry as Rose but now I could see the funny side and I realised if I didn't we were about to have a very awkward moment. She rejoined me on the bed kissing me gently this time and then she pulled away and redressed. I was disappointed but I guess we would always have later.

We walked back downstairs together just as Alice came bounding out to tell us that it was lunchtime. Emmet and the other two boys smirked at us as we walked in but were smart enough not to make any comments, the look on Rose's face seemed to be daring them to even try and say something. I almost started giggling partly in embarrassment but held it in. Right when I thought we were safe and everyone was just going to let it blow over for the time being Emmet opened his mouth.

"I'm so videoing next time. That was hot!"

Rosalie just glared and I blushed bright red as Esme walked in, "Emmet I think that's quite enough how would you like it if they interrupted you?"

I had never felt more grateful towards Esme although it surprised me that it didn't faze her that we had basically just been having sex upstairs. I was so glad she was Rose's mum, this whole situation could have been so much worse. That thought reminded me, I should probably tell Renee soon. I hadn't actually talked to her in a couple of weeks and she was probably worrying like hell.

We all ate in relative silence with the occasional comfortable banter but mostly the boys were too busy stuffing their faces and Rosalie's leg rubbing against mine had my mind too distracted to say anything. When we were finished I helped Esme clean up, I wanted a chance to thank her for her encouragement and approval. Rose made to join us but I signalled for her to go talk to Alice or something and told her that we could manage.

"Thank you Bella", she commented as I passed the salad plate for her to put in the fridge, "did you want to say something honey?"

"I just...thank you for everything and what you said the other day. I was almost ready to give up on her and I probably did it the wrong way but thanks to you here we are, and thank you for accepting that it means a lot to me."

"Bella it's no problem. You're part of the family now and I just wanted to see two of my daughters happy and if it's together then even better" She smiled warmly at me and I was touched that she already considered me a daughter. I smiled back and we finished cleaning up in comfortable silence.

Rose was standing in the lounge room watching the boys and impatiently waiting for me so I snuck up behind her and slid my arms around her.

"About time! So what do you want to do now?" I thought for a second and remembered the view from her window.

"Can we go for a walk?"

"Sure", we called to Esme our plan and then wandered out the back door hand in hand. I couldn't help being amazed by how beautiful it was, I couldn't believe I'd hated the scenery when I'd first moved. For a while we just walked in silence, eventually we moved closer to each other, Rosalie wrapped her arm around my waist and I slid mine around her shoulders. We stopped for a moment and kissed lightly then kept walking. I realised I didn't really know what to say or do but it didn't seem to matter, I just had to go with the flow.

We reached a pretty little clearing with a small creek running through it. Taking our shoes off we sat on a rock with our feet dangling in it and held hands again. I looked up to speak to her and was once again struck by her beauty and the entire situation. She caught the look on my face and demanded an explanation.

"It's nothing just, you, I can't believe this is really happening". She didn't reply to me just leaned in to kiss me, pulling me closer. I entwined my hand in her hair, deepening the kiss while she pulled my body to hers. Her tongue slid into my mouth and this time I didn't even try to fight for dominance, my leg was pressed between hers and she was moving against it. It felt like electricity was through our bodies into each other. Eventually we broke off for air and we just sat with her back against my chest and my arms around her.

We chatted casually about everything, mostly unimportant things and our interests. She talked about cars and growing up in the Cullen household and I told her about Renee and Phil. It was easy and it just felt right, for the first time in weeks I was perfectly happy actually I was in heaven. Before I knew it, it started getting dark and we decided to go back although I was reluctant. Rose suggested we have a picnic lunch there the next day and I eagerly agreed, it was serene and it meant more alone time with my girlfriend. I don't think I'm ever going to get over saying that, my girlfriend.


	9. Chapter 9

**I know I've said it before but I am so sorry for the wait and how short this chapter is, hopefully from now on I will be getting back into this fic and updating more often.**

**I apologise for any mistakes and as you all know I do not own Twilight. R &R, I hope you like it :)**

**Explanations**

After our walk Rose and I got back in time for dinner and the rest of the evening passed quickly. The boys continued playing video games and virtually ignoring us and so we watched _Alice in Wonderland_ with Ali upstairs. Lying on Rosalie's bed afterwards her hand rarely left my own as the three of us talked and joked around. After discovering how perfectly our hands fit together earlier we were reluctant to let go, it felt like they had been precisely made for the purpose of holding each others. Plus despite how amazing it felt to be with her I was still a little worried that if I did, she'd disappear. Her previous attitude still concerned me but I wasn't sure how to bring it up and I didn't want to have that conversation around Alice anyway.

There were quite a few times where I saw the pixie like girl looking at us, her expression one of pure happiness and approval. It made me happy, knowing that if she approved of my relationship with her sister and best friend then she must like me. For the first time in years, or perhaps ever, I felt accepted. Like I was no longer an outsider but has found somewhere that I fit with people who genuinely liked me. I was hanging out with my best friend and my girlfriend and didn't feel even the tiniest drop of the loneliness or isolation I'd always felt to some degree.

Alice went to bed reasonably early, making up some excuse about being tired from a long day or something which you could tell was her just trying to be nice and give us some privacy. She hugged us both goodnight and got up to leave but you could see there was something she wanted to say still.

"I just wanted to tell you both that I'm so happy you're finally together and I'm super excited for you! I know you guys are going to be amazing together!" With that she promptly skipped out of the room smiling. Turning to Rose I smiled shyly, filled with a bubbly feeling from Alice's little announcement but still a little nervous. As happy as I was I wanted answers, I just didn't know how to approach the subject. I certainly didn't want to upset her or start an argument this early into our relationship but I couldn't act like it never happened. Chewing on my lip I looked up at her, hoping the right words would find their way to my mouth. She noticed the worried look on my face and looked at me with concern,

"Bella? Is something wrong?"

"If you really do like me, why were you so… um… temperamental and sort of…" My sentence faded as I didn't want to say what I actually meant.

"A bitch?" She filled in for me, not looking offended at all.

"Well, yeah… Basically" I looked away as I answered, unsure of how she would react.

"Bells, I like you. You can be sure of that. I was acting so horribly because I was scared." The idea of Rosalie being scared of anything seemed almost ridiculous, she always seemed so strong and fearless and I was curious to know why she was. "I wasn't sure you really liked me or if it was just a little girl-crush." She glanced at me to make sure I was following before continuing, "I'm not sure if Alice ever mentioned Tanya to you?"

I shook my head and she continued with her explanation, " She left Forkes at the end of last year. I'd always admired her, she was intelligent and interesting. It took me quite a while to realise it but I ended up crushing on her pretty hard." A small spark of possessiveness and envy ignited inside of me but I ignored it and kept listening to what she had to say.

"One day last year she came up to me during lunch and asked if I would like to hang out after school. Obviously I said yes without a second thought and we made plans. Within a couple of weeks we were spending almost all of our time together, one night I slept over at her house and we were lying on her couch cuddling when she asked me if I'd ever thought about kissing another girl before. After a moments deliberation I admitted to her that I had, scared that it would disgust her. But I needn't have worried, we kissed for the first time after that. From there we gradually did more and more every time we had a sleep over. As can be expected my feelings for her grew and before I knew it I'd fallen for her." Rose's eyes began to fill with pain as she talked about her relationship with Tanya and I wanted to tell her that it was ok, she didn't have to tell me but I needed an explanation.

"I should have been more cautious, it was obvious it meant more to me than her. We only ever acted that way when we were alone and she still flirted with the boys at school. But I was in love and I let myself live in some fantasy world where Tanya wanted me the same way I wanted her." She paused to consider how to continue and it was obvious she was almost up to the painful part, I squeezed her hand a little and gave her an encouraging smile. "One day when we were in Port Angeles shopping she met this older guy, James. She was quite taken by him and they started seeing each other quite often. Slowly, to my disappointment, we started to drift apart. So after a while I got my courage up and decided it was time to do something. I was just going to go over there and admit my feelings to her." I got the feeling I knew where this was going and I hated making her tell me how it ended.

"When I got to her house she told me she had exciting news and that whatever I wanted to talk about had to wait. We got to her room and as soon as the door was closed she announced that her and James were 'finally' dating and that she'd given her virginity to him the night before. I was crushed that she could discount everything that had happened between us so thoughtlessly but I clung to the tiny bit of hope I had left and without thinking I told her that I was in love with her." The pain was obvious on my face and I reached out to put my arm around her as she continued.

"Her reaction, as you can probably guess, was less than desirable. She stared at me like I had two heads and told me that I was disgusting and weird. That she'd only been experimenting and using me for practice. That it meant nothing to her." I was shocked that anyone could be that cruel to their supposed 'best friend' or that anyone could turn down Rose for that matter.

"I'm so sorry Rose" Her story made me feel even guiltier about using Mike to make her jealous, "I'm sorry you had to go through that and I'm so sorry for what happened with Mike and stuff. I really do like you. A lot."

"I know Bella and I had no right to treat you the way I was. I'm sorry"

"It's fine Rose, I understand completely" What I didn't understand was how anyone could want to hurt her.

"It's not fine but I'm glad you understand." She gave me a smile that spread through my body like warm rays of sun. This girl could make me feel things no one else ever had before. As she smiled at me I thought about everything and I felt my worry ebb. It suddenly occurred to me that she was actually liked me. _Rosalie Hale likes me. Rosalie Hale is my girlfriend. I am going out with the most beautiful girl in the school._ I couldn't stop myself from grinning at her like an idiot as it sank in.

"What?"

Instead of answering her I shook my head and leaned in to kiss her.


	10. Chapter 10

**I am so sorry for not updating this in so long, hopefully now I will get back into it. This is only a short chapter because I wanted to get something up.**

**I hope you enjoy it. Obviously I don't own Twilight, the characters etc. **

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I woke up to the smell of pancakes drifting through the house and a warm arm wrapped around me. It took my head a few seconds to catch up as I remembered the events of the previous day. Wanting to be able to see my beautiful girlfriend I slowly shifted until I was facing her, the bright morning light made her skin look even more flawless (something I had thought impossible until that moment) and brought out the natural highlights in her hair. Through the night it had become a little wild and out of place and yet it still looked like it was styled that way, resembling a beautiful lioness. My lioness. I smiled to myself and gently kissed her cheek. From the corner of my eye I saw movement and looked up to find Alice peaking around the door.  
"Hey Bella", she whispered warmly, "time to wake the sleepy head up. Pancakes are ready!".  
"Thanks Alice, we'll be down in a minute".  
I was sad to have to get up and unwrap myself from her arms but I was looking forward to good morning kisses. A thought struck me as I began to try and wake her up; what if she had changed her mind? What if she woke up and regretted everything? The thoughts made me freeze, reluctant to break the perfection that had been waking up in her arms. After a few moments I finally shook my head and berated myself, she had been so perfect and caring yesterday, she wouldn't have changed her mind.  
"Rose, we have to wake up babe", I said gently as I pressed soft kisses on her cheeks and forehead.  
"Rosie", I wondered if she would be annoyed at me for calling her that, I had only ever heard Alice call her Rosie before and it usually resulted in a severe glare. Luckily for me as her eyes began flutter open there was a smile on her face.  
"Good morning beautiful, Esme made pancakes".  
That made her elicit a soft moan, "Soo yummy", still half asleep.  
"Well if you don't get up soon the boys will have scoffed them all down before we get any"  
"Okay, okay...I'm getting up now", I loved that she wasn't a morning person. Her goofy sleepiness was adorable.  
"What are you smiling at?"  
"You".  
"Why".  
"Because you're cute", I knew she wouldn't like that answer - although it was the truth.  
"I am NOT cute", unconvincingly glaring at me.  
"Ok, you're not cute"  
"Very good. Now let's go get some pancakes!"  
She was wrong, the queen of all bitches, Rosalie Hale, was very cute in the morning.

As we walked into the kitchen I noticed we were the last ones down and that Carlisle was home from the hospital this morning.  
"Morning guys, sorry we're late".  
"You're not late at all dear", Esme smiled gently at me, kissed us both on the cheek and handed us a plate of pancakes each, "Now go eat".  
"They're soo -ud Bell-ugh", Alice exclaimed with her mouth stuffed with pancake.  
"Good morning ladies", Carlisle looked up from his paper as we sat down.  
"Morning Dad".  
"Good morning sir".  
"Bella please, it's Carlisle. Or dad if you prefer, I hear you're now officially part of the family".  
"Thank you Carlisle", I smiled politely at him then started on my pancakes. They were topped with berries and cream and looked absolutely delicious. "Oh My God, Esme these are amazing!", I complimented after a couple of bites. My mother was lucky if she didn't burn toast so it felt unusual, but nice, to have breakfast made for me yet again.  
"Thank you Bella. Let me know if you would like anymore".  
Breakfast was fairly quiet after that, everyone too busy enjoying their pancakes.

Rosalie stayed in the kitchen to help clean up while I went upstairs to have a shower. When I walked back into Rosalie's room she was already there waiting.  
"Hey babe, you look nice today".  
"Thanks", I blushed, not use to compliments from her, or anyone really.  
"I told Esme we're planning on going on a picnic so she's making us some food to take. I'm just going to go have a shower".  
I was surprised that she even remembered the picnic. Picking up her towel and giving me a quick kiss she started to walk out, pausing for a moment she told me that Alice was in her room if I wanted to go and hang out with her while I waited.

Half an hour later Rose found Alice braiding my hair, glancing at her with a puppy dog look I mimed 'Help me!' but she just gave me that signature smirk and flopped herself onto Alice's bed.  
"What are you doing today Al?"  
"Jasper and I are heading into Port Angeles for the day, would either of you like anything?"  
"No thanks", Rose replied and I just shook my head (the best I could with Alice's hands in my hair anyway). I'd probably miss the pixie today but I was glad that we weren't going to be abandoning her all by herself today.

Not long after Esme sent Jasper up to let us know that she had finished packing our lunch and Rose and I left, picnic basket in hand. Strolling through the forrest we made easy, casual conversation. While we were different in so many ways there was a lot that we did have in common.  
"Rose, can I ask you something?"  
"You just did", she joked, poking her tongue out at me, "of course Bells".  
"How come you guys are so exclusive? And why did you all let me in so readily?"  
Roses face fell to a frown, "It's not us who are exclusive, haven't you noticed? Because we stuck together they assumed we were snobby. The girls drooled over Emmet and Edward like starved animals and when they were turned down the girls resented all of us".  
I nod, from what I'd seen that made sense. "And me?"  
"Honey, you're different from all of them. Alice could tell from the moment she met you. You're not judgemental like the other girls and it was pretty much a done deal after you came to sit with us, not paying attention to a word Lauren or Jessica told you".  
I smiled up at her, "Of course I didn't, they're just jealous and immature bitches and I've never fit in with those types of girls. I've never fit in with anyone before really."  
"Well now you have us and you're a perfect fit".  
I tiptoe to give her a soft kiss, inhaling that beautiful scent. Never in my life had I felt so comfortable and involved and just happy.  
"Come on sappy, feel like going for a swim?"  
"A swim? Where? We don't have our bathers."  
"I'll show you"  
She lead me to the spot we'd found yesterday and then we followed along the edge of the creek until it widened into a pool. Rose lead me by the hand towards it, kicking her shoes off and stepping into the shallows, smiling as the water lapped at her toes.  
"I still don't see how we can swim with no bathers".  
"We'll just wear our underwear in, it's warm enough that we will dry off before we have to put our clothes back on to go home, or we could go commando."  
"Mmm I guess...", not so rapt in the idea of being practically naked in front of her, my body is nothing compared to Rosalie's. She'd probably be disgusted.  
Rose was already taking her clothes off, "C'mon Bella! Be adventurous!"  
The water did look beautiful..my thought process froze as Rose walked towards the waters edge wearing nothing but her underwear. I had seen her in this state of undress before but it never failed to take her breath away. Without realising what I was doing I began to strip off, eager to be in the water with my goddess-like girlfriend. As Rosalie moved deeper into the water and began to swim, her golden hair trailing behind her in the water, she truly could have been one or at the least a mermaid. While Rose was facing the other way I took my last pieces of clothing off and hurried into the water, wading up and wrapping my arms around her waist. The water was cool but not dramatically so, thankfully, so it didn't take much time to adjust to.

We spent quite a while swimming and playing, occasionally getting distracted by each other. As we kissed my stomach rumbled so loudly that Rosalie could hear it. Giving me a stern look she picked me up and carried me out of the water, surprising me with how strong she is. Setting me down on the grass she proceeded to spread a picnic blanket out, and empty the basket of the feast Esme had prepared us.  
"Hope you're hungry, Esme tends to go overboard with these things", Rose warned me while unloading sandwiches, fruit, granola bars, cookies and lemonade. There was enough food to feed at least two more people, probably even all of the Cullen children (excluding Emmet considering he eats like a small army). We are in relative silence with smiles and lingering glances. It still amazed me how comfortable I could be in the older girls presence.

Echoing my thoughts Rose announced, "I've never felt this relaxed with anyone outside of my family before".  
"I'm glad you can be with me", I smiled shyly, knowing that she knew I felt the same way.  
"I feel like I could take a nap now", I stated, suddenly feeling sleepy after all of the food.  
"Come here"  
I shuffled towards her and laying down, snuggling into her open arms. Rosalie's body against mine felt so good that I barely managed to suppress a moan. We lay there together for a while before I slowly drifted off.


End file.
